Familiar Stranger
by MiLady TARDIS
Summary: This is just a little story I came up with. The Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory run into Donna Noble in New York. One Shot with Two chapters! Disclaimer: I own nothing!
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

It had been a few months after the Doctor had erased Donna Noble's memory of ever having traveled with him. It had been a hard thing to do, but it was something that needed to be done. If she kept that knowledge for any longer, it definitely would have killed her. That would've been even harder to deal with. The Doctor moved on, as he always did, and eventually ran into Donna's grandfather Wilfred, saved the world (as he was wont to do), and regenerated in the process. But before he did regenerate, he wanted to say a final goodbye to his companions. He saved Mickey and Martha from a Sontarion, saw Rose for a final time in 2005, and watched Donna get married. He gave her a winning lottery ticket as a wedding present and said goodbye to Wilfred, and he thought that that would be the last time he would see her. And for a while, it was. He redecorated the TARDIS console, got a new sonic screwdriver, prevented the Atraxi from roasting the earth, met Amy Pond and her fiancee Rory Williams, and even started wearing a bow tie, because, as he pointed out constantly, 'Bow ties are cool.' Everything was great. Until he ran into Donna again.

**Chapter One**

Donna's life had been great too. She had gotten married to a great guy, won the bloody lottery, moved to New York and had a great job interview lined up for her today. The only problem was that ever since the Christmas past had a nagging feeling that she was forgetting something, something that shouldn't be remembered. Of course, that just made her want to remember it more. She had dreams about them too, but she could barely remember them in them in the morning. Although, she did remember one , thing: In the dreams. she ran. She ran a lot, sometimes from something, sometimes to something, but one thing stayed consistant: She was having the best time of her life with her best friend, a crazy wonderful man who always had a plan, even if it was made at the last minute.

But for the time being, she was focused on her getting to her job interview. She had time to spare, so she cut through Central Park to enjoy the scenery. Suddenly, she heard a strange_ vwoorp vwoorp vwoorp_ noise. "That's odd." She muttered to herself. The sound reminded her of something, but the memory scampered before she could fully remember. It was so familiar. She ran into the woods and arrived just in time to see the blue police box appear in front of her. "That's impossible." she murmured. Suddenly, she saw images pass in front of her eyes.

_Her in a wedding dress as she is almost killed by a giant talking spider..._

_Pompeii on fire as she watched the volcano erupt, only it was her fault..._

_A giant wasp attacking her and Agatha Christie..._

_The vast empty library inside a little girl's head and shadows that ate you..._

_There was a something on her back and a blonde who told her to turn her car left..._

_Running... lots of running with a tall thin man in a blue suit and brown coat... he had crazy hair that seemed to go everywhere and red converse shoes..._

Her head started getting hotter and hotter with each flash of memory. She clutched her head in pain and before she could even say a word, she passed out just as the doors of the blue police box opened and someone stepped out.

**Chapter Two**

Amy walked out of the TARDIS just in time to see a red head fall to the ground. "Rory!" she shouted back into the TARDIS before going to check on the woman. Rory ran out and saw the woman on the ground. He checked her wrist and opened her eyelids before announcing, "She's okay, she just fainted."

They hear the door to the TARDIS close and turned to see the Doctor walk out. "What is going on Ponds? We're here barely five minutes and already we got people yelling and screaming. Who's that?" He said, finally noticing the woman on the ground.

Amy said, "I don't know. We found her like this- Doctor, what's wrong?" She had noticed the look of dread on the Doctor's face.

"D-Donna," he stammered, "It can't be. That's impossible. Amy, Rory, we have to go before she wakes up." Before Amy or Rory could ask what was going, on the woman, whom the Doctor knew apparently as Donna, started to stir. The Doctor quickly ran back into the TARDIS and flipped some switches, making the it invisible before running back. 'Okay,' he thought to himself, 'I've regenerated, she won't recognize me, so she won't remember. I just can't let her see the TARDIS.' He managed to get back to Donna just as she woke up.

Rory gently sat her up, telling her, "Easy there, slowly."

Donna held her head and asked, "What happened? There was a blue police box..." She looked behind the Doctor and saw that it was gone. She quickly stood up and said, "Where is it? Where is the police box?"

The Doctor quickly stepped in with, "Ma'am, you probably just hit your head and imagined it."

Donna stood up angrily and said defiantly, "I most certainly did not imagine it. Who are you people anyway?" The Doctor couldn't help but grin. Donna hadn't changed a bit. She had the same fiery personality and short temper that she had when he knew her. Donna caught his grin and demanded, "Oi! What are you smiling at bow tie boy?"

The Doctor touched his bow tie saying in mock offense, "Hey, bow ties are cool." Donna rolled her eyes before she got a really good look at the strange guy in front of her. There was something familiar about him. His face was young, but his eyes had an oldness about them that she had seen before. There was something else as well: Sadness, but also a strange sort of... hope? How did she know all this?

Donna asked curiously, "Have we met before? You look so familiar."

The Doctor sputtered and said, not too convincingly, "I don't think so. Nope, never seen you before in my life. Amy, Rory, I think it's time we let, um, what was your name again?"

As if in a trance, Donna managed to say, "Donna Noble." She was still trapped in the strange man's eyes. There was so much in those eyes, flickers of loss and pain, and excitement and eagerness. But again, it was the familiarity about them that was the most prominant. She HAD seen them before.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had continued talking, "Yes, nice to meet you. Amy, Rory, let's leave Ms. Noble to her business." Amy and Rory looked at the Doctor with confusion and was about to ask what was going on, but stopped when they saw the look on his face. The three started walking off, the Doctor telling them the story of pig men and something called Daleks that tried to destroy the world using the Empire State building. The Doctor hated leaving her there as if they had never met, but it was better than the alternative should she remember. Suddenly, though, more images ran through Donna's mind, less invasive this time though.

_Strange robot things with lasers who continued to shriek in horrible robotic voices: EXTERMINATE! ..._

_A hand in a jar, but as she touched it, another person appeared and she suddenly knew everything in the universe, except it was too much for her..._

_The same man with the crazy hair and melonchaly eyes holding her as she realized that she couldn't stay with him and she had to forget..._

Donna didn't realized that she had started crying until the images stopped and she noticed that the trio she had just met weren't in sight. She couldn't totally recall everything of those images and flashes, but she did catch one word, and although she didn't understand why it seemed so right and safe, yet so very very sad, she whispered it with as much as sorrow as there could be in a human voice:

"Doctor..."


	2. Chapter 2

For a moment, Donna felt nothing but sadness and confusion. With that one word, she remembered everything. She remembered the TARDIS, all the new planets they visited, and the enemies she and the Doctor had faced.

But most of all she remembered that she had forgotten all of it. He had dumped her back on Earth and, apparently, moved on.

That git!

Donna immediately ran after the trio, shouting, "Oi! Doctor! You get back here!"

When she got near enough, Donna saw the two new companions stop, but the Doctor stubbornly kept walking, almost marching in the attempt to get away from her.

_Oh no you don't, _Donna thought determinedly. "Spaceman!" she yelled loudly, still running after him. "I wanna talk to you." She finally caught up to him and grabbed him by the shoulder, stopping him in her steel grip.

Donna forcibly turned him around and looked into green eyes that were so different now, but at the same time they were the same as when she traveled with him.

"It is you." Donna whispered. It was unbelievable. How could she have forgotten? _Why_ had she forgotten?

There was a pause. The Doctor opened his mouth, but Donna beat him to it:

"You left me, you jerk!" She screamed, slapping him across the face, but not that hard; however mad she was, she was still happy to see him.

The Doctor immediately held up his hands to defend himself and said, "I'm sorry, Donna, I had to!" He saw the Ponds walking over to them, confused looks on their faces, but they also seemed amused at the spectacle.

"Doctor," Amy managed to say between laughs, "Who is this?"

Donna stepped back from the Doctor and replied, "Donna Noble, I used to travel with the Doctor." She hit him again on the arm, "Until the git left me!" She held out her hand and they all shook hands.

"Well, I'm Amy Pond, and this is is my husband, Rory. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Donna replied. _They seem like nice people, _she thought.

The Doctor, rubbing his arm, walked over to Donna. He took her hand and led her away from the Ponds back to the TARDIS. "Go see the sights guys. Be back at the TARDIS in an a hour."

The Ponds nodded and walked away. Once they were finally alone, the Doctor turned to Donna. "I'm sorry, Donna, I truly am-"

"How could you, Doctor?" Donna asked, gripping his hand in hers. "I was going to travel with you forever, but you left me."

"Donna, do you remember when you absorbed all my knowledge, back on on the Dalek ship?"

Donna laughed. "Of course I do. I did in fact save the world with it."

"But do you remember what I told you after we left Rose and my double in the other dimension?" He asked this with a slight tremor in his voice, like he didn't want to say it.

Donna shook her head, because she really didn't. She remembered leaving the alternate dimension, entering the TARDIS, and the Doctor apologizing, but then nothing.

The Doctor sighed. "Donna, when you absorbed all that knowledge, it was too much for your brain to handle. It was starting to burn it up already, and the only way I could save you was by making you forget that you had ever traveled with me."

"But I remember it, Doctor!" Donna protested. "I remember everything we did together: Pompeii, Agatha Christie, the Daleks! And I'm fine!" She gripped the lapel of his tweed jacket and brought him closer, wanting him to understand. "You didn't have to make me leave. You could've just blocked off all that Time Lord information from me or something."

"Donna, please, you don't understand-"

"You're bloody right I don't understand!" She felt a lump in her throat grow and she forced it back down. She wouldn't break out into tears in front of the Doctor. Donna wasn't even sad, or even angry, just confused.

"You left me. Erased my memory and walked out on me," she whispered. "You were my best friend, and I didn't even remember you. I didn't even get to say goodbye."

Donna caught a glimpse of regret in the Doctor's eyes, and she realized that he was sad about that too.

"You were my best friend, Donna."

The words were spoken so softly, Donna was sure that she hadn't heard him correctly.

"What?" She asked quietly.

The Doctor looked up and pulled her close. He gently pressed his lips to hers, holding Donna in a hug.

It was a soft, friendly, reassuring kiss. It was a kiss between best friends.

Donna pulled away first, but kept hugging him, resting her chin on his shoulder. That nagging feeling that she was missing something was now completely gone.

"I just wanted a mate, Donna," the Doctor murmured, both of them holding onto the other with everything they had. "And you were the best, you were brilliant."

Donna's heart skipped a beat at the compliment. "You weren't too bad yourself," she murmured, laughing a little. She could tell that this meeting was coming to end, and for some reason, she felt alright with that.

The Doctor smiled. "That's the Donna I know." He pulled away from her, both of them laughing at the tears in the other's eyes.

"You take care of yourself, alright Doctor?" Donna wiped the tears out of her eyes. "And you make sure that those friends of yours stay safe."

"If you want," the Doctor offered with a muschievous smile, "You could come with us. Donna Noble in the TARDIS once again?" He patted the blue box affectionately, a hopeful look in his eyes.

Donna shook her head. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but I can't." Donna wished she didn't have to see the hurt look in the Doctor's eyes, but this was how it was supposed to be. It hurt, but she had moved on, and so had he.

"I'm married now, and you've got the Ponds," she clarified. "I have to move on, Doctor." Donna looked at her watch. "And now I have to think of a reason as to why I'm late for a job interview," she sighed.

The Doctor looked up and his features brightened. "Well," he said happily, looking back at the TARDIS. "I do have a time machine, I suppose I could give my best mate a quick trip to make it to a job interview." He unlocked the doors and opened them, stepping aside to let her in.

"Oh, you are brilliant." Donna laughed, going through the doors.


End file.
